PROVIDENCE — Lincoln’s Fairlawn playground was no fun for David Wayne Daniel in the late summer of 2001, the West Warwick contractor told the jury in former Lincoln Town Administrator Jonathan F. Oster’s bribery and conspiracy trial yesterday.

Daniel, whose company was hired to build a new concession stand, bathhouse and other improvements for about $150,000, testified that he and his crews were regularly pestered by town officials who complained about the quality and pace of the work. He said he was also called to three Friday morning meetings in a row in Oster’s office, where the main business was “jumping on my back.”

Daniel said the most frequent visitor, one who would stay at the site for entire days, was Stephen Balestra, whose office oversaw the federal funds used to pay for the project. He also mentioned Parks and Recreation Director Paul Prachniak and then-Public Works Director David T. Harrison.

“It made everyone nervous,” Daniel said of the visits. “This was a small project.”

Under questioning by Assistant Attorney General William Ferland, Daniel testified that on the Monday after the third Friday meeting in Oster’s office, then-Planning Board member and Oster political ally Robert R. Picerno showed up at the site.

“He asked me how things were going and I told him they’re busting my … and he started to laugh a little slyly,” Daniel said.

Daniel said Picerno then took out a pack of 100 Oster fundraiser tickets worth $50 a piece — $5,000 total — and asked if he, Daniel, could take care of them.

“I said, ‘If you can get those … guys off my back,’ ” Daniel said he told Picerno. “He said ‘No problem.’ ”

Daniel testified he later had his office cut a check for $4,750, because he had already donated $250 to the Oster campaign, and he didn’t want to double pay. Picerno turned down the check, he said.

“He said, ‘I’m going to need it in a nicer way,’ ” Daniel quoted Picerno as telling him. He said he understood that to mean Picerno wanted the tickets paid for in cash. Daniel said he accommodated him.

Court adjourned for the day before Ferland could finish his direct examination and before defense lawyer C. Leonard O’Brien could cross-examine Daniel.

Oster is facing two counts of bribery and two counts of conspiracy in connection with events that happened during his 2000-2002 term as town administrator. The state charges that Oster and Picerno ran a bribery scheme where Picerno would solicit the bribes and Oster would manipulate town government accordingly.

In 2004, Picerno pleaded no contest to four counts of taking, or trying to solicit, bribes, and three counts of conspiracy to solicit bribes.

The Oster charges focus on bribes the state says Oster and Picerno sought in exchange for selling a piece of land on Route 116 that the town controlled. None of the counts involve the Fairlawn project, but Associate Justice Gilbert V. Indeglia ruled before the trial began that the state could introduce evidence about the project and how the town handled it as part of a broader conspiracy case.

Daniel’s company on the Fairlawn project was called Major Construction Associates and his partner was Robert Gelfuso. Gelfuso figures in the Oster bribery counts because the state charges that in the fall of 2001, Picerno sought a $25,000 bribe from Gelfuso in exchange for the town letting him take over the Route 116 property, known as the H&H Screw Co. site.

Though O’Brien hadn’t cross-examined Daniel yesterday, he previewed some of his counterargument in his Jan. 28 opening statement to the jury. He said in that presentation that Oster had been upset by what he thought was lack of progress at the park, off Smithfield Avenue near the Pawtucket city line. He characterized Oster’s actions as those of a chief executive taking action to get a troubled project back on track.

And there were problems with the project, Daniel testified yesterday. The playground was near a wetland, which meant that a special state permit was required. Daniel said he had expected the town to get it, but it hadn’t, and getting the state approval delayed the start of work. He said at one point early on in the project, Prachniak had told Daniel’s crews to relocate the bathrooms they were set to build, but once the hole was excavated, it was determined the bathroom couldn’t go there after all.

“We had to bury the hole,” he said.

jhill@projo.com